Behind the House
by Khait Khepri
Summary: During his apprenticeship to Berthold Hawkeye, Roy Mustang found that his Master's daughter was something else worth studying. Royai fluffiness. Pre-manga. One shot.


Title: Behind the House

Summary: During his apprenticeship to Berthold Hawkeye, Roy Mustang found that his Master's daughter was something else worth studying. Royai fluffiness. Pre-manga. One shot.

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. This is merely for entertainment purposes.

Roy had always loved alchemy. He loved the smell of ozone, the wonder of creation, the art and science of it all, and bore a dream to help people. That was why he found himself a master. He wanted to become better at alchemy. After a few recommendations and a very sour send-off from his Aunt Chris, he managed to find his master in the form of one Berthold Hawkeye. Mister Hawkeye had refuted him in the beginning, of course, because he wasn't interested in having an apprentice. The man was thin, almost emaciated looking, and looked largely unkempt and somewhat possessed, but he was the best alchemist in the area and Roy persisted. After a month of such persisting, he was accepted as the man's student.

His training had been brutal some days and almost lenient others. Berthold had a disturbing tendency to lose himself in what he called his 'greatest alchemical achievement', part of the reason he looked emaciated and somewhat possessed. Roy found himself not minding overmuch, thinking that perhaps one day he'd be allowed to learn the art his master was contriving. As it was, he did busy himself with learning more of the basics, often spending hours reading and studying and practicing.

Unsurprisingly enough, Roy managed to find a distraction from his studies and on the days his master occupied himself with his 'ultimate alchemy', Roy spent more and more time on that distraction. Which, really, was to be expected. Roy was a young man and distractions sometimes were easy to come by, especially when they were so readily at hand as this one was.

She was a lovely girl, Roy concluded. All pretty sepia brown eyes and heart-shaped face, short blonde hair so fair it looked to glow in sunlight, and a curvy body that he'd found himself longing to touch clothed discretely in pencil skirts that went below the knee and cardigans that understated her curves. Like any young man, Roy was not immune to the charms of that which he found attractive. And Riza Hawkeye, teenage daughter of Berthold, was decidedly attractive.

He had kept his hands to himself, though, and often used the books he studied as visible barriers between them. Those books often wound up being tools in which he used to peek at her over only to flick his eyes back down to the text he'd lost track of to hide his ogling. He thought to himself that the reason for his actions was because he wished to respect his Master. In truth, he was just a bit shy. He had sweet talked girls before, testing out his appearance and his glib tongue on various women back in his home town (much to the mixed amusement and consternation of his Aunt Chris). He had even gained some pointers from some of the girls his Aunt Chris had employed in her shop. They had happily given him sweets and taught him what to say for best effect and from what he could see, it worked like a charm. Granted, he had never been permitted to stay in the shop during his youth, but he didn't mind. The girls often came over to see his Aunt Chris, viewing her as something of a surrogate mother much like he did.

But Riza… Well, she certainly wasn't some girl he could flirt sweets from. She was quiet and reserved, almost timid in some ways. Her eyes were always a bit cautious, but he could see a sort of steel in them that he found delightful. And yet, he didn't dare flirt with her. He merely watched her. She seemed to realize that she was being watched after a while and had taken to giving him glances when he happened to be around and her father was not present. She was unsure of him, he could see, but she didn't approach him any more than he approached her.

The balance shifted, though, one day when the rain came pouring down during his apprenticeship and Berthold had locked himself once more in his study, refuting either of them from entering while he worked as a man possessed during some fit of inspiration. That left the two of them to their own devices. Bored of studying, Roy trailed after her as she left the doorway to her father's study and found himself within the kitchen while she settled a kettle on the stove. Riza looked at him curiously after she'd put the kettle on to boil but didn't seem to be bothered by his presence, so he stayed as she fixed some tea for the both of them. They spent a few hours talking, whittling away at the hours while rain sluiced down from the sky and hammered at the windows and roof. He learned more about her and she learned more about him. It was such a quiet beginning to what would come later that neither yet realized the significance.

Many talks later, Roy had to admit he had a definite attraction for the blonde. At sixteen years old, she had an incredible wit tucked behind her usual demure and quiet nature enforced by an overbearing father that cared very little for her general actions and a long since passed away mother. She discovered he had a dry humor and was not above being liberal with flattery, but as young and naïve as she was, the decidedly handsome nineteen year old had managed to catch at her heart with that flattery and praise.

Berthold remained oblivious as the two grew closer, his obsession with his studies and research consuming his attention. Lonely and somewhat bored, the two teenagers turned to each other as a result. They talked and took walks, typically keeping close to the house in case they were needed. By the time that Roy had taken four walks with Riza, he'd realized he had memorized the Hawkeye gardens well enough he was visualizing where the best places would be to steal a kiss from the blonde girl.

The first time he managed that kiss, however, tucked away from sight of any windows in a convenient little nook near where the masonry column of the fireplace stood on the backside of the house, she blushed and stammered and hared off before he could do anything else. Such a brief peck and she'd gotten so flustered. Roy was both endeared and a bit hurt by the actions.

It was a little awkward after that, but soon enough she was behaving as she usually did again only with the occasional blush tinting her cheeks when she saw him staring at her over the top of his alchemy texts. A bit later and she assented to walking with him again. This time when he pecked her lips just behind the rather large rose bushes along the back edge of the property, she didn't run though the blush returned heatedly. And when he leaned in again, she met him halfway and even returned the little chaste kiss.

After that, each day that Master Berthold tucked himself into his study, the two teens would find themselves together, exchanging words and kisses. Naturally, the kisses became more heated as time went on, and Riza would often loop her arms about Roy's neck or brace herself against his arms while he encircled her waist with his hands, drawing her close.

Roy relished how she felt pressed against him. They never pawed at each other or felt each other up more than what little they could take from fully clothed forms, but the sweetness of the girl in his arms made him want to marry her. She was precious and sweet and kind. There was a fire in her that made him awed and there was a gentleness that made him humble. And he had to admit he had fallen in love with her.

It all ended abruptly, though, when Berthold had emerged unexpectedly from his study and caught the pair of them behind the house kissing each other rather passionately. He'd immediately thrown Roy out, angry that he'd touched his daughter and thus violated the meager trust Berthold had put in him. Roy was forced to take it like a man (though not without one final lingering and somewhat pained glance at Riza who looked visibly shamed and torn) and left with his belongings in hand. It hurt to leave her and he knew the wonderfulness of it all had been completely and inexplicably ruined by his former master. Roy hadn't even had a chance to beg her to come with him, to run away and marry, for Berthold did not let his daughter out of his sight until after he knew Roy was gone from the property and well on his way back home.

He didn't see her again until two years later, for he had been a coward and had not come back to where he'd been so shamed. Perhaps it was juvenile of him, but he was still young and pride was a very tender thing while you're young. He had come initially to try and see if he could gather up the courage to ask for Riza's hand in marriage, but such words froze on his lips upon seeing her instead of her father. Logically, he knew that she'd be the one to open the door and at eighteen she was still as breathtakingly beautiful as she had been at sixteen. He'd been dressed in the blue of a soldier then, interested in still making a difference in the world and his country. He'd also seen the disapproval in her eyes at that blue uniform and the longing, too. He had so desperately wanted to kiss her, but knew he couldn't…

Instead of begging her away to marry him on the sly, he asked to see her father and to see if he could gain the man's approval. Berthold had taken one look at Roy in his uniform bare of any pips and denoting him as a mere Private and had listened to the dark-haired youth's plans to become a State Alchemist and be someone that could help the nation. The emaciated man had laughed at his words, a derisive chortle that cut deeply into Roy's heart. Despite having been run off, Roy still had hopes the man thought of him congenially. He had been proven wrong.

Berthold died during his visit, unfortunately, mocking him all the while. And Roy knew that it must be fate spitting on him, forcing his dear Riza whom he still treasured despite his forced distance from her to watch as her father vomited blood and died in a cough-wracked heap. He knew Berthold had not been a kind father, but he was still her father and he would not have wished anyone to see the death of their parents, especially as he'd lost his own when he was young. And he hadn't had a chance to ask the man for his daughter's hand, though he felt that he would have been denied considering the words Berthold had spit at him.

After the funeral the next day, Roy discovered that Berthold's research had not died with him, that the secret alchemy Riza's father had created had managed to survive. During the time Roy had been gone, Berthold had finished his research… and had engraved it in his daughter's back. Finding that out had infuriated Roy beyond belief. Berthold had defaced his daughter for one little mistake! Without care!

Riza offered her back to him, offering that research out of love for the man she'd fallen for. Roy, stunned by the gesture and consumed by the curiosity often found in scientists of all sorts, accepted her offer. He took the secret and learned it. The tattoo that had been stamped into her back had been beautiful and intricate, a true work of art, but the fact was that she'd been scarred permanently by her father and that tattoo was a heavy, heavy burden. But before he took the information and left to return to the military once more, he found the woman he loved in his arms, topless and willing and oh, so sweet.

What started as sweet kisses and sweet touches became a sweet night and they'd both learned much about each other's bodies while they made love. Roy had had a woman or two during his absence from Riza, but he discovered she was a virgin still and as a result used all that he knew to make her have the best time he could create for her. And she cried out in pleasure, delighting in his touch. It had been a wonderful night, but when the dawn came, he had to leave her behind. He took her father's research, her virginity, and left with her an option for her future.

When he saw her again, he had become a State Alchemist bloodying the sands of Ishval and burning the men and women he found there with snaps of his fingers. He had used her father's ultimate research to carve out a name for himself in flames. No, he was flame… _the_ Flame.

And he didn't resent her for a minute when she looked at him with disappointment and accusation, for he knew he'd been the one to guide her onto the path of bloodying her own hands with each trigger pull of her sniper rifle. But he could still see the love in her eyes, hidden behind a wall of steel that she used to guard herself. She still loved him. Roy felt himself rejoice even as he knew he didn't deserve it. Because she was still the pretty sixteen year old behind the house, innocent, naïve, and trusting, and she made him feel like he was still nineteen and foolishly naïve himself. An urge came over him again to kiss her, to kiss away her pain and deadness from the harshness of Ishval. He wanted to take her up in his arms and protect her and love her and keep her safe.

He couldn't do that anymore.

Somehow, in the death that covered the desert, Roy found himself behind that house and kissing her that night, snatching at her breath and dreaming of a beautiful future. And when he woke, he knew that it would never come true. But oh, how he could dream of rose bushes and little corners and a single night of love that he doubted he'd ever taste again.

Author's Note: Ah, yes… a little one shot of the time before Roy and Riza lost their naivety. No dialogue, no hard core scenes of their romance. I even chose to keep it fairly chaste thanks to the way they behave around each other. Intimacy to the level sex winds up providing changes the way you behave around a person. You either become very comfortable in their presence or you wind up becoming awkward, especially when it comes to someone as reserved as Riza Hawkeye. She out and out says that her father wasn't a kind man and that she did not wish to live in his shadow, but Riza's very reserved and very quiet. Her idea of acting out would wind up directing her into the military, which Berthold visibly held in contempt. When she allows Roy into her heart, it is obviously both the action of a very young woman that found her first love and someone that found a figure that actually wanted her. I can also see her being very shy about a first attempt at showing affection, too, and obviously Roy would still be new to the whole womanizing thing so he would be a bit hurt at a rebuttal, imagined or not.

I aimed for this to be sweet, simple, and a taste of wanting left open for the future. Hopefully, I achieved it. If the end seemed a little too open and not very final, then I'm sorry. That's how I wanted it to be. They still love each other all the way through the series, so it had to be open-ended. And realize that Riza and Roy could very easily solve their problem by one of them retiring or moving to another section of the military, thus negating fraternization laws. But they choose not to, finding that keeping a professional relationship is far more important than capitulating to the sweetness they hold to each other.

Anyways, I can rant on and on. Leave reviews if you wish it. I appreciate any comments you can give me.


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